In the manufacture of glassware, such as glass containers, various anomalies or variations can occur that affect the commercial acceptability of the containers. These anomalies, termed “commercial variations,” can involve dimensional characteristics of the container such as at the container finish, surface characteristics that can affect acceptable operation of the container such as surface variations at the container sealing surface, or variations such as stones or checks within the container finish, sidewall or bottom, to name but a few. Furthermore, it is conventional practice to mold indicia on each container that are indicative of the mold of origin of the container for inspection and quality control purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,493 illustrates a starwheel-type conveyor for accepting containers in sequence from an infeed conveyor and transporting the containers through a series of inspection stations. At least some of the inspection stations hold the containers in position and rotate them about their central axes such that they may electro-optically inspect the containers for commercial variations and/or mold codes. The term “inspection” is used in its broadest sense to encompass any optical, electro-optical, mechanical or electrical observation or engagement with the container to measure or determine a potentially variable characteristic, including but not necessarily limited to mold codes and commercial variations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,751 B1 discloses a method and apparatus for indexing glassware through a series of angularly spaced inspection stations, and includes first and second arrays of glassware gripping fingers mounted on rotatable carriers. The carriers rotate around a common axis, and are each driven by a servo motor. The carriers are designed such that at least one of the carriers rotates with respect to the other when the gripping fingers are either to grip or release an article of glassware, and they are designed to rotate in unison when they are to index an article of glassware from station to station.
The above-noted patents illustrate examples of some of the many devices that may be employed in the glassware inspection field, as numerous other examples also exist. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,682,802, 3,880,750, 4,046,258, 4,378,493, 4,378,495, 4,584,469, 4,644,151, 5,233,186, 5,291,271, 5,414,939, 5,637,864, 5,896,195, and European Patent Nos. 0961113 and 0764846 each disclose methods and/or devices that may also be employed for the purpose of inspecting containers, including optical, electrical and mechanical inspection.